Intentions to Marry, 1876

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840388, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

A few of the pages are missing.

Page 1023

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1876 Registrar A C Henderson

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

6 July 1876

William Goodall
Annie Finnerty

William Goodall
Anne Finnerty
💍 1876/2092

Bachelor
Widow

Bushman

35
41

Invercargill
Invercargill

14 days
7 years

Roman Catholic Church Invercargill

76/2180

6 July 1876

Rev. Thomas Higgins, RC

No	55
Date of Notice	6 July 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Goodall	Annie Finnerty
BDM Match (96%)	William Goodall	Anne Finnerty
	💍 1876/2092
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Bushman
Age	35	41
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Invercargill
Folio	76/2180
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Higgins, RC

7 July 1876

William Henry Martin
Isabella Catherine Rowe

William Henry Martin
Isabella Catherine Rowe
💍 1876/2076

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

21
16

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

House of Rev Mr Dean, Invercargill

76/2188

Robert Davison, stepfather, Stewart Island

7 July 1876

Rev. Mr. Dean, Prim.

No	56
Date of Notice	7 July 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Martin	Isabella Catherine Rowe
	💍 1876/2076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	21	16
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Rev Mr Dean, Invercargill
Folio	76/2188
Consent	Robert Davison, stepfather, Stewart Island
Date of Certificate	7 July 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Dean, Prim.

7 July 1876

William Green
Isabella Hall
formerly Mann

William Green
Isabella Hall
💍 1876/2088

Bachelor
Widow

Cab Driver

40
35

Invercargill
Invercargill

18 years
3 years

House of Mr. Mann, Wallace Town

76/2176

7 July 1876

Rev. Mr. Stevens,

No	57
Date of Notice	7 July 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Green	Isabella Hall formerly Mann
	💍 1876/2088
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Cab Driver
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	18 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Mann, Wallace Town
Folio	76/2176
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Stevens,

12 July 1876

Gavin Amos
Elizabeth McLeod

Gavin Amos
Elizabeth McLeod
💍 1876/2077

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
21

Mable
Hokonui

16 years
21 years

House of the Rev. Mr. Dean, Invercargill

76/2189

12 July 1876

Rev. Mr. Dean, Prim.

No	58
Date of Notice	12 July 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gavin Amos	Elizabeth McLeod
	💍 1876/2077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Mable	Hokonui
Length of Residence	16 years	21 years
Marriage Place	House of the Rev. Mr. Dean, Invercargill
Folio	76/2189
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Dean, Prim.

14 July 1876

Richard Richards
Gwenllian Davis

Richard Richards
Gwenllian Davies
💍 1876/2078

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
General Servant

23
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 months
6 months

House of the Rev. Mr. Dean, Invercargill

76/2190

14 July 1876

Rev. Mr. Dean, Prim.

No	59
Date of Notice	14 July 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Richards	Gwenllian Davis
BDM Match (97%)	Richard Richards	Gwenllian Davies
	💍 1876/2078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	General Servant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	House of the Rev. Mr. Dean, Invercargill
Folio	76/2190
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Dean, Prim.

18 July 1876

Michael Malone
Ann Quin

Michael Malone
Anne Quin
💍 1876/2069

Widower
Spinster

Settler
General Servant

31
19

Lowther
Invercargill

8 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

76/2181

John Galbreith, Guardian, Invercargill

18 July 1876

Rev. Thomas Higgins, RC

No	60
Date of Notice	18 July 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Malone	Ann Quin
BDM Match (94%)	Michael Malone	Anne Quin
	💍 1876/2069
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler	General Servant
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Lowther	Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	76/2181
Consent	John Galbreith, Guardian, Invercargill
Date of Certificate	18 July 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Higgins, RC

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).